The man in charge of Bear Stearns Asset Management's quantitative equity team is poised to leave to set up his own firm, taking about 15 staff with him. The new venture will be a partial spin-out, with Bear Stearns retaining a minority stake.

James O'Shaughnessy, head of Bear Stearns' systematic equity team, will start the new firm with slightly less than half of the bank's $11.5bn (€8.5bn) in assets managed through its systematic process, which uses a quantitative, computer-modelling strategy to select stocks instead of using fundamental research from analysts.